After lunch sessions: The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros
Using "Those Who Don't" chapter:
How do we read each other? How are aware of our bodies? The bodies of others?
(clothes, facial expressions, skin tones, smells)
This piece is about how we read each other, not just that we are read but that we do it, too.
This can open a discussion of our ignorance of other communities.
The nervousness goes both ways. What are they nervous about?
Using close reading of "The House on Mango Street" (opening chapter):
We vs. I
What do we see in the opening paragraph?
How is this a nomadic text of crossing borders?
How are there familial relationships and physical locations in the text?
How does the nun participate in the construction of identity?
What is the authority of the nun?
Why does she assume having a house will solve her problems?
Consider how to use these chapters as mentor texts for students:
How can you have students stand beside the text and use the structure to create their own narrative of their homes or neighborhoods or names?
How can students talk about their identity through names?
How would they rename themselves?
Close reading of "Geraldo No Last Name":
What does it mean to be undocumented in terms of identity?
How does documentation affect class and social position?
Where do bodies of those without a home get returned to?
Close reading of "A Rice Sandwich" and
"The Wrong Lunch Line":
What are these stories about?
How do these stories explore women's desire for a place at the table.
How are these stories about the empowerment or silencing of women?
How does identity get constructed in institutional vs. A domestic sphere?
Questions for students:
What are places you are not allowed to enter or where there are borders?
The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros
Using "Those Who Don't" chapter:
How do we read each other? How are aware of our bodies? The bodies of others?
(clothes, facial expressions, skin tones, smells)
This piece is about how we read each other, not just that we are read but that we do it, too.
This can open a discussion of our ignorance of other communities.
The nervousness goes both ways. What are they nervous about?
Using close reading of "The House on Mango Street" (opening chapter):
We vs. I
What do we see in the opening paragraph?
How is this a nomadic text of crossing borders?
How are there familial relationships and physical locations in the text?
How does the nun participate in the construction of identity?
What is the authority of the nun?
Why does she assume having a house will solve her problems?
Consider how to use these chapters as mentor texts for students:
How can you have students stand beside the text and use the structure to create their own narrative of their homes or neighborhoods or names?
How can students talk about their identity through names?
How would they rename themselves?
Close reading of "Geraldo No Last Name":
What does it mean to be undocumented in terms of identity?
How does documentation affect class and social position?
Where do bodies of those without a home get returned to?
Close reading of "A Rice Sandwich" and
"The Wrong Lunch Line":
What are these stories about?
How do these stories explore women's desire for a place at the table.
How are these stories about the empowerment or silencing of women?
How does identity get constructed in institutional vs. A domestic sphere?
Questions for students:
What are places you are not allowed to enter or where there are borders?